Wine update:. I am slowly developing a tolerance for this wine by taking tiny sips throughout the day, never enough to make you sleepy. On the one hand, It makes me curious if there is another wine I would like. OTOH, why not just leave well enough alone. Last week I had planned that today would be the day I would sneak into the Ford dealership here in town and let them know I'm shopping for a new truck. But now I feel like I should stay home just to be a team player in this virus epidemic. I guess since there would be no crowds it would be acceptable. Maybe they are closed anyway. The only thing I want to know is can you still order a vehicle exactly the way you want, like you used to. If so, is it too late to order a 2020? If so, then I'll wait for 2021. I don't see anything that I like in stock. Mainly because they are all black, white, or silver. That rules them all out. lol
March 18, 2020 I feel like I've aged 20 years in the last five. The last half of 2019 was especially annoying. Recently received bad news about a friend I knew for over 40 years. Rusty still walking funny with his back legs. Ruled out urgent things. Should probably take him to the vet for X-rays, but I doubt he will come back, and he's not ready for that yet. Thought I'd distract from all this by jumping into long overdue roofing jobs, and other repairs. Had planned house painting next, but there are too many possibilities to think about (long story) and lost momentum. Now trying vehicle shopping. They say the end of the month is a good time to buy. Ford dealer still open for business. Thinking out loud... It must be a pickup, and it must have an extended cab, and a 6' bed. Period. Momentarily thinking Ranger, because this F-150 is big. But the Ranger comes with only a 4 cylinder 2.3L engine. I had a 1980 4-cylinder Honda. "They" say the new Ecoboost engines are much better. .. "A 4-cylinder delivering more power than V-8's a decade ago" Others say just more things to go wrong. Yet, others, say don't worry about that, just get an extended warranty. I don't want to deal with that F-150 options 2.7L V6 Ecoboost 3.3L V6 3.5L V6 Ecoboost 5.0L V8 I'm leaning toward the V8. Will probably only have this for 10 years, then I better quit driving anyway. I don't drive enough to worry about gas mileage, and will drive even less soon. I bet the V8 would be easier to sell at 10 years. Second option, 3.5L, but that is more expensive than the V8 anyway. Insignificant things so far: 1. Found out how to disable Auto Stop/Start. Who came up with that idea? 2. What happened to Limited Slip Differential? I can't count how many times that option has got me out of the mud, and even snow and ice, with the EZGO. What is it called now? 3. Prefer regular headlights, not the ones that blind everyone on the road. 4. Minimum fancy computer options inside. 5. No bucket seats, no cloth seats 6. Red That's all that matters, so far, but I haven't looked at everything. I really don't have a clue what I'm doing.
In order to remain hunkered down in place, I used Chat to contact the Ford dealer. Asked a difficult question, to which I knew there would be no answer. . "When will production be back up? If I have a special order is it better to wait for the 2021 models?" They now know someone out there is interested. Feebly disguised attempts to get phone number did not work, but I'm sure they will get it somehow. They deflected, and emailed back that they are sure they have one available I would like. And I'm sure they don't. Wanted to schedule an appointment. I'm not ready yet. This is excellent for distraction purposes. Much better than getting the house painted. Btw, I think LSD is now called Electronic Lock RR axle. I wonder if that can be changed/added after production? I wouldn't think so.
March 20, 2020 (Thursday) High was 81F (27C). Too hot to work in winter clothes. Flying bugs are out. Spring is definitely here. Almost forgot about the stone embankment in the back yard. I was going to try to tidy it up a bit. Most of the stones which are out of place are too heavy to lift. Spent an hour picking up more bottles and pieces of glass that surfaced after all the winter rains. Removed red bricks and concrete chunks that don't fit the decor. Small chunks go in the sinkhole and the rest out to the farm. There is an old welded wire fence buried deep back there which I can not pull up. I guess I'll just cut it off at the ground. If a pile of stones in the yard like that was good enough for Robert Frost, it ought to be good enough for me. (Frost's home in Vermont) LARGER IMAGE . .
The manager at the Ford dealership sent another email and tried to answer the question this time. "Nancy, unfortunately we do not have the answer to that question. We are receiving the same information as the public at this time. If you could let me know what specs you are looking for on the F-150 that truck may already exist and be on the ground. " This will be my last truck, unless it turns out to be a lemon. I know they don't have anything close, within several hundred miles. I'm not going to settle. I would like them to know I'm not just playing around with them. Think I'll give him the specs I want, but tell him I'll wait for the 2021's. One thing I'm good at is procrastinating. The problem with this truck is it goes along just fine for a couple of weeks, and then the transmission will do the shudder thing, one time. Then fine for another week or two, and make 3 attempts to shift gears, one time. I'm afraid it will just fail completely one day. Can you lease a car for just a couple of months?
I'm not aware of any lease for a vehicle less than 12 months. Consider a rental and probably less expensive.
Thanks, Von. So I just checked. Renting does sound like a good option. It probably won't be necessary, but I always like to have a back up plan ready, in case the worst happens.
Half brick found in the stone pile in the back yard. Years ago I found a brick with the engraving "Florence to Annie" dated 1906. First thought, could Steve be an uncle? A little more digging (figuratively) revealed it probably comes from The Stevens Brick Company, located in a little town called what else, Stevens Pottery, GA. Henry Stevens came from England to Georgia in 1850. His factory made the first sewer pipe ever produced in the South. "During the Civil War, Stevens’s plant produced 'knives, shoe pegs and Joe Brown pipes' for the confederacy, and, because of that Sherman burned the plant to the ground in 1864." The factory rebuilt and by the turn of the century produced only brick. I believe it was abandoned in the 70's. Stevens Pottery Factory, 1898 Now, the thing is, what are shoe pegs and Joe Brown pipes? I got the shoe pegs, but not the Joe Brown pipe. Could the pipe be one made from pottery? It keeps going like this. How can anyone ever get bored?
Mystery solved, to my satisfaction anyway... Joe Brown was a four term governor of Georgia (1857 to 1865) up through the Civil War. He was a bit of a character. I speculate the name Joe Brown Pipes, was just a nickname given to any pipes produced for the Confederate soldiers in support of the war effort. Stevens started out owning a sawmill before the brick factory, so the pipes could have been made of either wood or clay. The shoe pegs were wood.
I never paid much attention to this scraggly holly bush in the back yard. It is a slow grower, near the property line, in line with the other hedge, so no need to cut it down. I assumed it was just a volunteer from a berry the birds carried from the holly hedge years ago. But after a closer look it's nothing like the hedge. First, the leaves are huge. And second, this year there are large clusters of fairly large buds all over it. These will probably turn into flowers. If all these buds ever turned into red berries you wouldn't miss it. The bush also has clusters that look like dried up flowers from last year. It is probably a male holly and any flowers are only for pollination. The hedge hollies are Nellie R. Stevens variety, which are female. It would be fun to try to cross pollinate them, but they would have to bloom at the same time, and I think Nellie's blossoms have been out for some time already. If I had time, I'd look through the woods out at the farm for a similar holly blooming right now and transfer it in town. They would be easy to spot. Not much has greened up yet, but it won't be long.
3/26/2020 Rusty (the goat) worse since last report here. On 3/25/20, back legs unstable when walking, and standing still he would gradually drop his rear end down about halfway to the ground and stay that way. Vet came out on a farm call next day. After a long discussion she said: 1. He has the same symptoms she sees in German shepherds with hip dysplasia. Goats can have it but it's not common. The rear end droop is a sign of pain. 2. Osteoarthritis My neighbor had a German shepherd with HD. It was painful just to watch it. My guess was arthritis. Rusty has a steep rump, which I found out only recently puts extra wear and tear on the hip joints over time. I thought of one other likely possibility, but with an equally bad prognosis. In any case vet thought it was incurable, progressive, painful, and agreed with me he should be put down. R.I.P. Rusty.
3/29/2020 (Sunday) All 3 lawn mowers started up easily this spring. First lawn mowing out in the country. Then last minute decision to check the cabin. It's been a while. We had some very heavy winds and hard rains this spring, which can cause strange things to happen. Today was no different. Boat I left it on the bank parallel to the water edge way above the water line. Found it alongside the dock with back end under water. It was still chained to the hitching ring in the ground, so I don't think it was humans. It's a 1960's boat, back when they made aluminum ones very heavy. First thought ... I can't fix this! Second thought...can't give up. Shoes and socks off, jump in the water, got it turned over. Still couldn't pull it out of the water. Back up to the house for the chain. Tractor has mower attached, truck would probably get stuck, golf cart pulled it out with no trouble at all. Tipped it back over up near the driveway and left it unlocked. I wish I had a place to keep it out of the weather down there. When it dries out I need to treat the wood transom with something. It's been under water for who knows how long. The outdoor plywood held up better than I thought it would. Cabin Front door was ajar. Open just enough to squeeze in. I think the wind did this also, because there was a prop under the door handle inside to keep it from blowing open, and that was still against the door. Nothing missing or disturbed, but... No power. ALL the breakers in the breaker box were in the OFF position, except the main breaker. How the heck did that happen? I would never have turned all the breakers off. Luckily nothing was in the fridge. It started back up, and all the circuits worked. Could lightning flip all the breakers except the main one? . Another mystery. The day could have been so much worse... I've learned to appreciate just getting back to square one. . This day cured a case of The Mean Reds.